


And This Was the First Time

by thnksfrthfnfc



Category: Newsies - All Media Types
Genre: High School
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-09
Updated: 2017-06-09
Packaged: 2018-11-12 05:55:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11155635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thnksfrthfnfc/pseuds/thnksfrthfnfc
Summary: Newsies in high school; Jack first sees the new kid, David.





	And This Was the First Time

It was a Monday morning when Jack first noticed the new kid in his English class. That morning he had picked up his best friend, Crutchie, from his house late, because it was Monday, and who really wanted to go to school on a Monday morning? He hit the snooze button a few too many times and was awakened by a phone call from an annoyed Crutchie. He hated being late to school, but Jack was his ride until he had his license. Jack got ready still half-asleep and turned the radio up in his car to make sure he was aware enough to drive. When he finally showed up at Crutchie’s house, the school bell had already rang. Crutchie jumped into the shotgun seat with his overflowing bag and asked Jack how his morning was going. Jack didn’t even bother replying, just putting his car into gear and all but speeding to their high school. 

“Can’t believe you’re tired on a day like this,” Crutchie said, his voice too happy for 8 in the morning. He gestured towards the window to the bright spring day that he’d been waiting for all winter. There was dew on the grass, and the sun was already shining over the neighborhood houses. Jack was used to the dark winter mornings. He tried to take a moment to appreciate the newly open flowers popping up, adding color to the otherwise plain-colored houses. 

“Not all of us are morning people, Crutchie,” muttered Jack. He came to an intersection and checked each direction. The school was just across the road. Most of the parking spots were full by then, but a few other cars were pulling in along with Jack. It’s not high school without upperclassmen showing up late with iced coffee from the shop on the corner. He sang along under his breath to the pop song on the radio as he parked in the first spot he passed. Crutchie was out of the car in an instant, but he had enough compassion to wait and walk with his friend, since they had the same first period. The two boys slung their bags over their shoulder and walked through the school. 

It was when they were passed the office, their footsteps echoing down the hall, that Jack saw the new dark-haired boy standing at the attendance window. He was surprisingly well-dressed compared to Jack and even Crutchie, and he had to be intelligent with the way he had the lady hooked to his words. She laughed at something he said before handing him his schedule, and Jack was envious, because the only times he talked to the woman was when he was sent to the office for “behavioral issues.” Each time he was in there, he thought her face looked even more disappointed. It was strange to see her wrinkled face twisted into a sweet smile talking to the tall boy. He thanked her for his schedule and turned to attempt to find his class in the maze Jack called his school. Jack felt his heart speed up when the boy caught his eye. He smiled at him in the nice stranger way, but Crutchie hooked his arm into Jack’s and pulled him down the hall, ignoring the new kid almost completely. 

“You ever seen that boy before?” Jack asked, trying to keep his voice steady. He didn’t understand what he was feeling, and he couldn’t pinpoint why he wanted to know more about him. Crutchie made a noise of acknowledgement and shook his head. 

“Nope,” He scuffed his shoe as they came to a halt in front of their classroom. “I hope we didn’t miss anything.” He fixed his hair and followed Jack into the room. Their teacher sighed, not surprised to mark Jack Kelly tardy again, which of course meant Crutchie too. Every once in awhile, Jack noticed she wouldn’t mark Crutchie late, which probably had to do with the fact that she enjoyed having him as a student, or she felt bad for Crutchie. He got little perks like that because of his crutch, but the lawful evil teachers never let him leave class early to get through the halls before they were filled with hundreds of teenagers hurrying to their next class. Jack didn’t understand why they only got three minutes to walk across the entire school, but the principal was adamant about getting as much teaching into a day as possible, and Jack was waiting for the day that he cut their lunch to less than 20 minutes. 

They took their assigned seats, and Jack hoped to stay awake for at least the first 25 minutes while she went over their most important notes. 15 minutes later, Jack decided Crutchie could send him pictures of his work and gave up trying to learn in favor of a power nap. He wasn’t out long enough to really dream, or accomplish anything from the nap, but he figured it was more fun than listening to his old teacher’s monotone, mathematical voice drone on. Crutchie woke him up on his way out the door after the bell rang, and Jack pretended to not see the old lady glaring at him. One of these days, she was going to give him detention, which Jack wouldn’t attend, leading to Saturday school. It was completely his fault for always forgetting about his detention, but he wouldn’t back down from the argument that detention was just about as useless as suspension, which he also had his share of experience with. You could say Jack wasn’t a favored student. He did have multiple teachers on his side that acted more like friends than anything else, though. 

He zipped his backpack up and followed Crutchie into the hall. Jack scanned the sea of faces for the one he’d seen that morning, but the boy had to have been on the other side of the school. He didn’t see him once on his way to his next class, second period without Crutchie. His best friend waved as they parted, so Jack could go upstairs. On the second floor he greeted his friends, Race and Spot, hanging out by their lockers. Race was holding a stack of books, which Jack guessed were for his and Spot’s science projects. He considered asking them about it, but the bell rang, and he sighed. Spot took half the books from the other boy and told him goodbye. He nodded to Jack and went to his next class. 

“You ready for some English?” Race asked rhetorically. He hooked his free arm over Jack’s shoulder and ushered them to their class. By then the halls were all but empty of students. Jack shoved his hands in his hoodie pockets and hummed in tune with his steps. As they approached the wooden door, plain besides a black “216”, Race lurched forward to grab the door for a kid coming from the opposite direction of the hall. Jack stopped on his heels when he realized it was the boy from earlier. They shared a class, and there he was standing frozen as Race was holding the door open for them. The dark-haired boy went in first, and Jack saw that he was still holding his schedule, folded into fourths, in his hand. 

Race shrugged to the teacher when she glared at him and Jack for being late, even though it was hardly a surprise. One day, Jack would fix his attendance. Or not. They took their seats, and all eyes were on the new kid talking to the teacher at her desk. He looked stiff, knowing the class was at a pause until he sat down. Jack didn’t listen to their conversation, instead taking a moment to just look at him. The way his hair looked un-styled, and the way he licked his lips as he listened to the directions he was being given. 

“Hey Jack,” Race whispered to him across the aisle of desks, “Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” He smiled at his friend mischievously, knowing Jack would squirm at the confrontation. Jack tried to stutter out that he was looking at the whiteboard instead, but neither of them believed it.

Jack turned his attention back to the teacher, ignoring Race in the corner of his sight, as she pointed him to one of the only empty desks. Jack felt bad knowing that no one sat there, because the legs of the desk were completely different lengths. 

“Class, welcome David Jacobs.” The class turned in their seats to stare as David took his new, wobbly seat. He shrugged his bag onto the floor beside it and pulled a notebook and pencil out. The teacher took her place by her desk to start the lesson, but Jack continued watching David two desks in front of him and one to the right. The boy leaned forward and frowned when the desk fell forward and rolled his pencil to the floor. Jack looked back to his notebook and tried to focus on actually learning something. It was easier to stay awake after his power nap, which he didn’t regret in the slightest. Being fully awake meant he got to banter with Race next to him when the teacher wasn’t looking and secretly watching David’s movements as he became accustomed to the new school. He noticed the girls beside him trying to pull David into their conversation, but he politely turned them down and pointedly stared straight ahead at the board, his pencil writing notes every few minutes.

**Author's Note:**

> I planned for this to actually have a plot, but then I forgot about it for a week sooo it probably won't. Hope y'all liked it.


End file.
